BEVERLY HILLS (MI) -- The one hope of Flyer fans (including this one) at the end of every hoops campaign can be summed up in this solitary thought:

That the question is not if the Flyers are playing in the Big Dance, but where

We got our collective wish this year, despite a semi-meaningless loss to GW and a quarter final exit from the A-10 Tournament in Pittsburgh. Sure, UD Pride MB poster Tony T 71 still had to start his annual “UD Bubble Watch” thread, but truth be told, there was NFW the Committee was going to bounce a team with an RPI of 21 because of the above minor setbacks.

And they didn’t.

What they probably did do was move UD from a #6 seed to a #7; VCU came in at a #10 and URI as a #11.

That’s respect.

What they also did was match the Flyers up with a grossly under-seeded #10 in Wichita State. Thanks a lot guys.

That’s questionable.

The Committee also wisely neglected to include Syracuse, with their #84 RPI, 18-14 record and a penchant for not playing anybody on the road, as their 2-11 record away from the Carrier Dome indicates.

That’s progress.

Still, the Committee continued the annoying habit of pitting non-Power 5 conference teams against each other in the 1st Round, vis-a-vis, UD/WSU, Gonzaga/SDSU and St. Mary’s/VCU.

That still needs some work.

Lots to cover in this NCAA Tournament edition of “FTS”:

-- The NCAA and CBS/Turner Sports have released the tip times and announcer pairings for the NCAAs. Not only is UD/WSU in prime time on CBS, we get the A Team in Jim Nantz, Grant Hill, Bill Raftery and Tracy Wolfson:

RHODE ISLAND
The University of Rhode Island was chartered as the state's agricultural school in 1888. The school became the Rhode Island College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts in 1892. Located in southern Rhode Island, URI is a quintessential New England campus - rural in feeling yet close to the city of Providence, the state's capital. Linked to the city, the beaches, and nearly every corner of the state by both rail and public transit, the campus is easily accessible from Boston and New York URI currently offers 100 majors in seven degree-granting colleges. There are more than 12,000 students on the Kingston campus, about 3,000 in Providence, and a complement of about 700 faculty. Fellow members of the A10 Conference. Nickname is the Rams.